Ex-Senator Menendez seeks Second Circuit rescue from bribery conviction

Former New Jersey Senator Menendez has repeatedly mounted the same arguments before the trial court to little success, both prior to his sentencing and his surrender to federal prison on the bribery and corruption convictions.MANHATTAN (CN) — Former New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez pushed a federal appeals court Thursday morning to reverse his federal bribery conviction and vacate the 11-year prison sentence he is currently serving.The 72-year-old ex-senator was convicted in July 2024 on criminal charges that he accepted bribes of cash and gold in exchange for agreeing to flex his legislative muscle to interfere in a trio of state and federal criminal investigations to protect several businessmen who were also indicted in the bribery scheme.Menendez’s appeal before the New York City-based Second Circuit hinges on what he claims are federal prosecutors’ violations of the Constitution’s speech or debate clause, which guards lawmakers against prosecution over official legislative acts.“Prosecutors must attempt to prove them solely through evidence that the legislator entered a corrupt quid pro quo agreement for official action,” Menendez wrote in an appeals filing. “They must not put legislative activity itself on trial. That, however, is exactly what prosecutors here did for two of the schemes.”Menendez has repeatedly mounted the same arguments before the trial court to little success, both prior to his sentencing and his surrender to federal prison on the bribery and corruption convictions.During oral arguments before a three-judge appeals panel Thursday, U.S. Circuit Judge Barrington Parker sought to “pinpoint” where the line between “pressure” and “support” from an elected official falls.Menendez’s lawyer Noel Francisco, from Jones Day, pointed to the Second Circuit’s holding when it overturned corruption charges against former New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.“The fact that Senator Menendez may be influential because of his office does not itself mean he used his office to exert pressure,” said Francisco, who served as President Donald Trump’s solicitor general during his first term. “Rather, Senator Menendez must have used his power to threaten, coerce, or similarly apply force to another public official to take an official act. In other words, you have to invoke the power of your office to coerce.”Menendez also argued that federal prosecutors improperly included fully unredacted versions of evidence, which had been ordered redacted during trial, on a laptop of evidence given jurors to review during their deliberations.The federal prosecutors, represented on the appeal by Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Monteleone — who also represented the U.S. government at Menendez’s trial — meanwhile urged the Second Circuit to strike down any challenge of his conviction arising from the speech or debate clause.“The defendants in this case were convicted based on overwhelming evidence in a trial that fully complied with the speech or debate clause of the Constitution, as both motions panels concluded, there is no ground for reversal of any of the defendant’s convictions,” he said Thursday.Monteleone cited precedent from the founding fathers in the 1803 landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Marbury v. Madison, which established the principle of judicial review and gave courts the power to declare laws passed by Congress unconstitutional. But Parker, a George W. Bush appointee, interjected.“Do you have a better case than Marbury v. Madison? I mean, the government has changed dramatically over the ensuing 200 years,” the judge questioned.Parker was joined on the panel by U.S. Circuit Judge Dennis Jacobs, a George H.W. Bush appointee, and U.S. Circuit Judge Beth Robinson, a Joe Biden appointee. The panel did not immediately from the bench on Menendez’s appeal.Menendez’s defense insisted during trial that his wife, Nadine Menendez — who began dating the senator in 2018 and married him two years later — kept him in the dark about her financial troubles and the assistance she requested from the co-defendant businessmen.The senator resigned in August 2024, one month after the convictions. He had already been forced to give up his powerful post as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when he was he was initially charged in the case in fall 2023.Six months after Menendez’s conviction, Trump told The New York Times in a January interview that he was not considering pardoning the former senator.Menendez was previously indicted in 2015 in a similar scheme involving accusations of peddling political influence to help Florida eye doctor Salomon Melgen in exchange for luxury vacations in the Caribbean and Paris, flights on the eye doctor’s private jet and hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions to organizations that supported the senator.A hung jury ended that trial two years later.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads